The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is finalizing approval to issue subpoenas to Google in an imminent antitrust investigation of the company's bread-and-butter search and advertising business, according to a new report.

Citing a lack of interest from advertisers, Apple has decided it will not display advertisements from its iAd network in applications for the iPhone and iPad that are meant for children, according to one developer.

Apple has released iAd Producer, a new tool for designing interactive "rich media ads" using web standards for distribution through its iAd network within iOS apps, in a direct blow to Adobe's Flash developer tools, the current standard among many web and mobile ad designers.

Millennial Media, the largest independent mobile adverting network, has released figures for July showing Apple leads mobile devices in general with its iOS platform and smartphones in particular with iPhone.

Apple instituted new rules in its iPhone 4 SDK designed to protect user privacy, but the company may not yet be enforcing those rules as they appear to apply against competing ad networks such as Google's AdMob.

Apple was the top device manufacturer on the AdMob network in May, according to the ad agency's latest data, with 44 million unique iOS devices tracked, and 57 percent of those from outside of the U.S.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has extended its review of Google's proposed purchase of AdMob by two weeks, as the federal agency will use the time to gauge the impact of Apple's iAd mobile advertising platform.

In addition to changes to the iPhone developer agreement banning the use of third-party development tools, a potential inquiry from federal regulators into Apple has been prompted by iAd mobile advertising network, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Just 2 percent of all iPhone OS handsets still in use are Apple's first-generation iPhone, but a new calculation estimates that amounts to nearly 30 percent of the 6.1 million iPhones sold between June 2007 and July 2008.

During a question-and-answer session following Thursday's iPhone OS 4.0 preview, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs admitted that Apple tried to buy AdMob before Google "snatched" them, and also cited a pornography store for the Android operating system as a reason why unsigned apps are not allowed on the iPhone.

Lawyers with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will reportedly recommend that the government block Google's proposed acquisition of mobile advertising firm AdMob, while the search giant has highlighted Apple's forthcoming iAd platform as evidence of growing competition in the market.

A new survey of mobile device consumers has discovered that iPhone and iPod touch owners are mostly male, though iPhone users are older and have less time to use downloaded applications than those who have an iPod touch.